[House Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
AN EXAMINATION OF TSA'S FISCAL YEAR 2024 BUDGET AND PRIORITIES
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
TRANSPORTATION AND MARITIME SECURITY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JUNE 22, 2023
__________
Serial No. 118-20
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Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
54-203 PDF WASHINGTON : 2023
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
Mark E. Green, MD, Tennessee, Chairman
Michael T. McCaul, Texas Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi,
Clay Higgins, Louisiana Ranking Member
Michael Guest, Mississippi Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas
Dan Bishop, North Carolina Donald M. Payne, Jr., New Jersey
Carlos A. Gimenez, Florida Eric Swalwell, California
August Pfluger, Texas J. Luis Correa, California
Andrew R. Garbarino, New York Troy A. Carter, Louisiana
Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Shri Thanedar, Michigan
Tony Gonzales, Texas Seth Magaziner, Rhode Island
Nick LaLota, New York Glenn Ivey, Maryland
Mike Ezell, Mississippi Daniel S. Goldman, New York
Anthony D'Esposito, New York Robert Garcia, California
Laurel M. Lee, Florida Delia C. Ramirez, Illinois
Morgan Luttrell, Texas Robert Menendez, New Jersey
Dale W. Strong, Alabama Yvette D. Clarke, New York
Josh Brecheen, Oklahoma Dina Titus, Nevada
Elijah Crane, Arizona
Stephen Siao, Staff Director
Hope Goins, Minority Staff Director
Natalie Nixon, Chief Clerk
Sean Jones, Deputy Chief Clerk
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SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND MARITIME SECURITY
Carlos A. Gimenez, Florida, Chairman
Clay Higgins, Louisiana Shri Thanedar, Michigan, Ranking
Nick LaLota, New York Member
Laurel M. Lee, Florida Donald M. Payne, Jr., New Jersey
Mark E. Green, MD, Tennessee (ex Robert Garcia, California
officio) Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi
(ex officio)
Vacancy, Subcommittee Staff Director
Alex Marston, Minority Subcommittee Staff Director
Halle Sarkisian, Subcommittee Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Statements
The Honorable Carlos A. Gimenez, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Florida, and Chairman, Subcommittee on
Transportation and Maritime Security:
Oral Statement................................................. 1
Prepared Statement............................................. 2
The Honorable Shri Thanedar, a Representative in Congress From
the State of Michigan, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on
Transportation and Maritime Security:
Oral Statement................................................. 5
Prepared Statement............................................. 6
The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Mississippi, and Ranking Member, Committee on
Homeland Security:
Oral Statement................................................. 3
Prepared Statement............................................. 4
Witness
Hon. David Pekoske, Administrator, Transportation Security
Administration, U.S. Department of Homeland Security:
Oral Statement................................................. 7
Prepared Statement............................................. 9
AN EXAMINATION OF TSA'S FISCAL YEAR 2024 BUDGET AND PRIORITIES
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Thursday, June 22, 2023
U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Homeland Security,
Subcommittee on Transportation and
Maritime Security,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:21 p.m., in
room 310, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Carlos A. Gimenez
(Chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Gimenez, Higgins, LaLota, Lee,
Thanedar, Garcia, and Thompson (ex officio).
Mr. Gimenez. Good afternoon. The Committee on Homeland
Security, Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security
will come to order.
Without objection, the Chair may declare the subcommittee
in recess at any point.
The purpose of this hearing is to examine the priorities of
TSA and the agency's budget request for fiscal year 2024.
I would like to thank our distinguished witness,
Administrator David Pekoske, for joining us today.
I now recognize myself for an opening statement.
Welcome, Administrator Pekoske. Today, we will discuss the
Transportation Security Administration's fiscal year 2024
budget request. But first, I would like to congratulate you on
your recent confirmation for a second 5-year term to lead the
TSA. This committee is deeply appreciative of your willingness
to continue to serve. Your testimony today comes at a time
where our country and the traveling public rely on the
capabilities of the TSA now more than ever.
The TSA was formed nearly two decades ago with--tasked with
extensive responsibilities, including protecting our Nation's
aviation and transportation systems. As you know, the
challenges and threats facing our Nation's aviation and
transportation systems are ever-changing and complex. During
your term as--first term as TSA administrator, you worked
diligently to realign TSA's strategic priorities and reorganize
the agency to reflect the evolving mission--mission on needs.
The more than 60,000 men and women of today's TSA play a
crucial role in keeping our country safe and secure. It is the
responsibility of Congress to ensure that TSA and its work
force have the necessary resources to address various
challenges and threats and keep Americans safe.
With that said, TSA's 2024 budget request includes $1.1
billion for pay increases for TSA work force. While I am
supportive of the TSA work force, many Members of our committee
would prefer to take a targeted approach with potential pay
increases. A targeted approach would ensure that only front-
line TSA personnel are getting a pay increase. Instead, TSA is
proposing a pay increase across the board, including for
already highly-paid senior personnel at TSA headquarters.
Last month, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on
Homeland Security held a markup for fiscal year 2024 Homeland
Security bill. Included in that bill is a targeted pay increase
for Transportation Security Officers and a total of $5.9
billion for the front-line screening work force. This is an
$856 million increase above fiscal year 2023 to fund pay
increases for TSO--TSOs, which I support. I want to emphasize
that funding constraints, including TSA's top-line pay equity
requests, have led to continued delays in investing in new,
more effective security technology, given the current fiscally-
constrained environment.
TSA's fiscal 2024 budget request diverts funding from key
areas, such as much-needed investments in security technology.
Investments in security technology such as computer tomography
and Credential Authentication Technology, CAT, must remain a
top priority as a cost-effective, proven solution to decrease
risk to the transportation system. We must also ensure that TSA
is being proactive in shortening the time it takes to develop
and pilot new technologies and deploying them in the field.
TSA's fiscal 2024 budget request includes only $70 million
to procure additional CT systems. This is significantly less
than the amount that was appropriated in fiscal year 2023.
Under TSA's fiscal 2024 request, and based on past, present,
and current projected funding, TSA will not meet full
operational capability for CT machines until fiscal year 2042.
It goes without saying that's a little bit slow. Fortunately,
the House Appropriation's fiscal 2024 Homeland Security bill
includes $105.4 million for CT systems, which makes up to--up
to $30 million shortfall from TSA's budget request.
Thank you once again for being here, Administrator Pekoske.
I look forward to your testimony and answers.
[The statement of Chairman Gimenez follows:]
Statement of Chairman Carlos A. Gimenez
Welcome, Administrator Pekoske. Today, we will discuss the
Transportation Security Administration's fiscal year 2024 budget
request.
But first, I would like to congratulate you on your recent
confirmation for a second 5-year term to lead the TSA. This committee
is deeply appreciative of your willingness to continue to serve.
Your testimony today comes at a time when our country and the
traveling public rely on the capabilities of the TSA now more than
ever.
The TSA was formed nearly two decades ago and tasked with extensive
responsibilities, including protecting our Nation's aviation and
transportation systems.
As you know, the challenges and threats facing our Nation's
aviation and transportation systems are ever-changing and complex.
During your first term as TSA administrator, you worked diligently
to realign TSA's strategic priorities and reorganize the agency to
reflect evolving mission needs.
The more than 60,000 men and women of TSA play a crucial role in
keeping our country safe and secure. It is the responsibility of
Congress to ensure that TSA and its workforce have the necessary
resources to address various challenges and threats and keep Americans
safe.
With that said, TSA's 2024 budget request includes $1.1 billion
dollars for pay increases for the TSA workforce. While I am supportive
of the TSA workforce, many Members of our committee would prefer to
take a targeted approach with potential pay increases.
A targeted approach would ensure that only front-line TSA personnel
are getting a pay increase. Instead, TSA is proposing a pay increase
across the board, including for already highly-paid senior personnel at
TSA headquarters.
Last month, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland
Security held a mark-up for the fiscal year 2024 Homeland Security
bill. Included in that bill is a targeted pay increase for
Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) and a total $5.9 billion for
the front-line screening workforce. This is an $856 million increase
above fiscal year 2023 to fund pay increases for TSOs, which I support.
I want to emphasize that funding constraints, including TSA's
topline pay equity request, have led to continued delays in investing
in new, more effective security technology given the current fiscally-
constrained environment.
TSA's fiscal year 2024 budget request diverts funding from key
areas such as much-needed investments in security technology.
Investment in security technology such as Computed Tomography (CT)
and Credential Authentication Technology (CAT) must remain a top
priority as a cost-effective, proven solution to decrease risk to the
transportation system.
We must also ensure that TSA is being proactive and shortening the
time it takes to develop and pilot new technologies and deploying them
to the field.
TSA's fiscal year 2024 budget request includes only $70 million to
procure additional CT systems. This is significantly less than the
amount that was appropriated in fiscal year 2023.
Under TSA's fiscal year budget 2024 request, and based on past,
present, and current projected funding, TSA will not meet full
operational capability for CT machines until fiscal year 2042. It goes
without saying, this is simply too slow.
Fortunately, the House Appropriations fiscal year 2024 Homeland
Security bill includes $105.4 million for CT systems, which makes up
the $30 million shortfall from TSA's budget request.
Thank you once again for being here, Administrator Pekoske. I look
forward to your testimony and answers.
I now recognize the Ranking Member, the gentleman from Michigan,
Mr. Thanedar, for his opening statement.
Mr. Gimenez. I will now recognize the Ranking Member of our
committee, Mr. Thompson, from Mississippi.
Mr. Thompson. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Good afternoon, Mr. Administrator. Good seeing you. Hope
all is well.
Thank you, Chairman Gimenez, for holding this hearing.
To Administrator Pekoske, as I said, thank you for joining
us today.
I'm thankful for the steps that you've taken to expand
workplace rights and critical pay increases for TSA workers
who've long been left behind. Those steps were made possible by
the historic funding provided by Democrats in last year's
omnibus spending bill.
With 30 percent pay increases set to hit paychecks next
month, TSA has already seen a drastic decrease of 40 to 50
percent attrition among TSA work force. I might add that, as I
travel through airports, I've never seen so many smiling faces.
The TSOs deserve it. They've done a wonderful job, in spite of
the low pay, and I'm happy that we were able to start the
process. But as you know, we need to finish it too.
So higher pay will enable TSA to keep us during this busy
summer travel, save money on training new personnel, and
increase security by keeping TSOs with security and expertise
within the agency. I know some of my colleagues across the
aisle want to limit these life-changing pay increases to only
front-line airport checkpoint screening personnel. This
misguided attempt to protect the workers who need it most would
actually deny much-needed equity to explosive specialists,
canine handlers, Federal Air Marshals, cybersecurity experts,
and other work essential to TSA's mission. It would also
disincentivize career advancement and rob TSA of experienced
veteran leaders among its work force.
It is absolutely vital that we work with our colleagues on
the Appropriations Committee to finish what we started and
fully annualize these pay increases and safeguards for
workplace rights for all TSA workers. I support the additional
$1.1 billion requested by President Biden to cover these
initiatives for a full year in fiscal year 2024.
We cannot go back on a promise to the hardworking men and
women of TSA. Congress must consider all possible solutions to
this funding challenge, including increasing passenger security
fees that have remained stagnant for many years, despite
inflation and increases in airline ticket prices.
This is why I've introduced the Fund the TSA Act, to
provide TSA with the resources it needs to invest in its work
force and the next generation of screening technologies by
enacting a modest increase to passenger fees and indexing
future fee amounts to inflation. This legislation would also
end the diversion of security fees, returning to TSA
approximately one-third of fee collections that have been taken
away to offset unrelated Government spending.
Mr. Chairman, I request unanimous consent to enter into the
record a letter from Everett Kelley, president of the American
Federation of Government Employees, in support of the Fund the
TSA Act and full pay and labor rights for TSA workers.*
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* The information was not available at the time of publication.
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I'd like to thank Administrator Pekoske for his support for
the TSA work force and for his work to safeguard American
travelers. I look forward to hearing more about his plans for
the coming fiscal year and for the future of the agency.
Thank you, and I yield back.
[The statement of Ranking Member Thompson follows:]
Statement of Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson
June 22, 2023
I am thankful for the steps Administrator Pekoske has taken to
expand workplace rights and critical pay increases for TSA's workers,
who have long been left behind. Those steps were made possible by the
historic funding provided by Democrats in last year's Omnibus spending
bill. With 30 percent pay increases set to hit paychecks next month,
TSA has already seen a dramatic decrease of 40 to 50 percent in
attrition among the TSA workforce. Higher pay will enable TSA to keep
up with busy summer travel, save money on training new personnel, and
increase security by keeping TSOs with seniority and expertise within
the agency.
I know some of my colleagues across the aisle want to limit these
life-changing pay increases to only front-line airport checkpoint
screening personnel. This misguided attempt to protect the workers who
need it most would actually deny much-needed equity to explosives
specialists, canine handlers, Federal Air Marshals, cybersecurity
experts, and other workers essential to TSA's mission. It would also
disincentivize career advancement and rob TSA of experienced veteran
leaders among its workforce.
It is absolutely vital that we work with our colleagues on the
Appropriations Committee to finish what we started and fully annualize
these pay increases and safeguards for workplace rights for all TSA
workers. I support the additional $1.1 billion requested by President
Biden to cover these initiatives for a full year in fiscal year 2024.
We cannot go back on our promise to the hardworking men and women of
TSA. Congress must consider all possible solutions to this funding
challenge, including increasing passenger security fees that have
remained stagnant for many years, despite inflation and increases in
airline ticket prices.
That is why I have introduced the Fund the TSA Act to provide TSA
with the resources it needs to invest in its workforce and the next
generation of screening technologies by enacting a modest increase to
passenger fees and indexing future fee amounts to inflation. This
legislation would also end the diversion of security fees, returning to
TSA approximately one-third of fee collections that have been taken
away to offset unrelated Government spending.
I would like to thank Administrator Pekoske for his support for the
TSA workforce and for his work to safeguard American travelers. I look
forward to hearing more about his plans for the coming fiscal year and
for the future of the agency.
Mr. Gimenez. Without objection.
I now recognize the Ranking Member of the subcommittee, the
gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Thanedar, for his opening
statements.
Mr. Thanedar. Thank you, Chairman Gimenez, for calling
today's hearing.
Thank you to Administrator Pekoske for joining us.
We stand at a critical junction for the Transportation
Security Administration as we in Congress consider whether to
invest the resources necessary to ensure the continued security
of our transportation system.
Last December, Democrats in Congress provided significant
resources in the omnibus funding bill to increase pay and
collective bargaining rights for TSA workers, finally putting
them on equal footing with other Federal employees. Increased
pay will begin to hit TSA employees' paycheck next month, and
TSA's already seeing major positive impacts.
Drastically, more people are applying to TSA positions.
Trends indicate that TSA's attrition rates, which have been
unsustainably high, may drop as much as 50 percent under the
new pay structure. Lower attrition will not only allow the
agency to save millions on hiring and training employees who
leave months later, but will also improve security as TSA
develops a highly-skilled, experienced work force.
Going forward, we must provide TSA with the funding to
continue these critical work force initiatives for a full year
in 2024. Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee marked
up the bill put forward by the Republican majority to fund the
Department of Homeland Security for 2024. I was glad to see
that Republicans are now following Democrats' lead to provide
pay increases for Transportation Security Officers, or TSOs.
Unfortunately, the bill prohibits increased pay for any TSA
employee who is not a TSO. This group of employees is critical
to TSA's security mission and includes Federal Air Marshals,
canine handlers, bomb technicians, cybersecurity experts, and
intelligence analysts.
The bill also defunds Visible Intermodal Prevention and
Response teams which are essential to securing mass transit and
other transportation modes, and it defunds basic collective
bargaining rights for TSA employees. Simply put, this
Republican bill would seriously undermine TSA's security
mission.
Thankfully, an alternative approach exists. Last month,
Ranking Member Thompson introduced the Fund the TSA Act, which
would end the diversion of passenger security fees and raise
fees by $2 per trip to provide TSA with the resources it
desperately needs. This bill would allow TSA to invest in its
work force, process increasing number of travelers, purchase
additional computer tomography machines for screening carry-on
baggages, and fund critical airport law enforcement and canine
programs.
I'm a proud cosponsor of this bill, and I encourage my
Republican colleagues to give it serious consideration as a
solution to TSA's funding challenges.
The fact is we have been underfunding TSA for two decades.
It is time that we rightsize TSA's budget, support its work
force, and set the agency up to address rising passenger
volumes over the coming years.
Mr. Administrator, I look forward to hearing your thoughts
and how Congress can support the agency's needs.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
[The statement of Ranking Member Thanedar follows:]
Statement of Ranking Member Shri Thanedar
June 22, 2023
We stand at a critical junction for the Transportation Security
Administration as we in Congress consider whether to invest the
resources necessary to ensure the continued security of our
transportation systems.
Last December, Democrats in Congress provided significant resources
in the Omnibus funding bill to increase pay and collective bargaining
rights for TSA workers, finally putting them on equal footing with
other Federal employees. Increased pay will begin to hit TSA employees'
paychecks next month, and TSA is already seeing major, positive
impacts.
Drastically more people are applying to TSA positions, and trends
indicate that TSA's attrition rates--which have been unsustainably
high--may drop as much as 50 percent under the new pay structure. Lower
attrition will not only allow the agency to save millions on hiring and
training employees who leave months later, but will also improve
security as TSA develops a highly-skilled, experienced workforce. Going
forward, we must provide TSA with the funding to continue these
critical workforce initiatives for a full year in 2024.
Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee marked up the bill
put forward by the Republican Majority to fund the Department of
Homeland Security for 2024. I was glad to see that Republicans are now
following Democrats' lead to provide pay increases for Transportation
Security Officers, or TSOs. Unfortunately, the bill prohibits increased
pay for any TSA employee who is not a TSO. This group of employees is
critical to TSA's security mission and includes Federal Air Marshals,
canine handlers, bomb technicians, cybersecurity experts, and
intelligence analysts.
The bill also defunds Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response
teams, which are essential to securing mass transit and other
transportation modes, and it defunds basic collective bargaining rights
for TSA employees. Simply put, this Republican bill would seriously
undermine TSA's security mission.
Thankfully, an alternative approach exists.
Last month, Ranking Member Thompson introduced the ``Fund the TSA
Act,'' which would end the diversion of passenger security fees and
raise fees by $2 per trip to provide TSA with the resources it
desperately needs. This bill would allow TSA to invest in its
workforce, process increasing numbers of travelers, purchase additional
Computed Tomography machines for screening carry-on baggage, and fund
critical airport law enforcement and canine programs. I am a proud
cosponsor of this bill, and I encourage my Republican colleagues to
give it serious consideration as a solution to TSA's funding
challenges.
The fact is, we have been underfunding TSA for two decades. It is
time that we right-size TSA's budget, support its workforce, and set
the agency up to address rising passenger volumes over the coming
years. Mr. Administrator, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on
how Congress can support the agency's needs.
Mr. Gimenez. Thank you, Ranking Member Thanedar.
Other Members of the committee are reminded that opening
statements may be submitted for the record.
Again, I am pleased to have a distinguished witness before
us today on this critical topic.
I ask that our witness please rise and raise his right
hand.
[Witness sworn.]
Thank you. Please be seated.
Let the record reflect that the witness has answered in the
affirmative.
I would now like to formally introduce our witness.
Mr. David Pekoske is currently serving his second term as
the seventh administrator of the Transportation Security
Administration. In this capacity, he leads a work force of over
60,000 employees, and is responsible for security operations at
nearly 440 airports throughout the United States.
Under his leadership, TSA has improved transportation
security through close partnerships and alliances, a culture of
innovation, and the development of a dedicated work force.
Prior to his tenure at TSA, he served as the 26th Vice
Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, culminating a Coast Guard
career that included extensive operational and command
experience.
I thank the administrator for being here today. I now
recognize Administrator Pekoske for 5 minutes to summarize his
opening statement.
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE DAVID PEKOSKE, ADMINISTRATOR,
TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
HOMELAND SECURITY
Mr. Pekoske. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Chairman Gimenez, Ranking Member Thompson,
Ranking Member Thanedar, distinguished Members of the
subcommittee. I am grateful for the opportunity to testify on
the President's fiscal year 2024 budget request for TSA. I look
forward to discussing how the budget request supports our
mission of securing the Nation's transportation system, while
ensuring the freedom of movement of people and cargo.
Our operations are conducted by an incredible team of TSA
employees, both public facing and behind the scenes, who work
tirelessly to keep us safe, as well as the enormous security
contributions of the owners and operators of transportation
infrastructure.
So far in fiscal year 2023, 550 million travelers have been
screened at our checkpoints at over 430 airports across the
country. Our highest passenger screening day since March 2020
was just 6 days ago, last Friday, when we screened
approximately 2.79 million passengers. We project that we'll
screen over a quarter of a billion passengers and crew during
the busy summer travel season.
With the growth in air travel, we will need the additional
staff requested in the fiscal year 2024 budget to continue to
meet our passenger throughput standards. Thanks to the
extraordinary effort of our airport teams, we meet those
standards over 95 percent of the time Nation-wide.
Of note, TSA PreCheck enrollments just passed the 16
million-member mark, with some days seeing almost 20,000 new
TSA PreCheck enrollments.
This year, TSA is on pace to provide assistance to over
60,000 passengers who may need additional help in our screening
process. This program, called TSA Cares, is certainly a benefit
for those asking for assistance, and provides additional
efficiency for all travelers in the queue.
I am very grateful for the funding we received in last
December's fiscal 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Act that places
TSA employees on the same pay scale as most other Federal
Government employees. This is essential to our long-term
success. Annualizing the funding to support this important
action is my No. 1 budget priority for fiscal year 2024.
We are already seeing significant dividends from the 2023
budget. First off, as many of you have already mentioned,
overall attrition rates are down, and they're way down. There's
already been a 53 percent increase in applications to TSA
positions so far this calendar year.
I appreciate that in yesterday's markup of our fiscal year
2024 appropriation the House Appropriations Committee provided
partial funding to annualize TSA's pay plan for our
Transportation Security Officers. However, I am very concerned
that the bill does not continue the pay for all TSA employees
into the next year.
TSA is an operating agency, and all members contribute to
our mission success. Here are some examples of employees whose
pay would not be funded and, therefore, their pay reduced in
the House bill. You'll see most have a direct contribution to
our mission, and the remainder are critical to supporting our
front line.
Federal Air Marshals, who as Federal law enforcement
officers, provide in-flight security, augment law enforcement
presence in airports and surface transportation systems; canine
handlers whose explosive detection and mobile screening
capabilities are a key component of TSA's layered risk-based
approach to securing the aviation sector. They are essential to
meeting wait-time standards at our major airports.
Explosives experts are former members of a police bomb
squad or military EOD teams that provide advanced IED training
and awareness, as well as alarm resolution in our checkpoints.
TSA vetting experts work 24/7 to review and vet passenger
reservation and aviation worker data, while processing nearly 3
million passenger records a day, and vet a credentialed
population of nearly 30 million people.
Coordination Center Officers at airports serve as the nerve
center for incident management reporting and are tied in real
time with TSA's national operation centers. Aviation regulatory
inspectors ensure compliance with and the security of domestic
and international aviation, while assessing security at
international last-point-of-departure airports. Our surface and
cyber inspectors are similarly not included.
Headquarters operations, which consists of only 4 percent
of our work force, a lean operation, in my opinion, provide
critical operational policy and logistic support to the entire
agency.
These are examples of the many dedicated TSA security
professionals who would be left out of the House bill were it
to pass. TSA cannot be successful without a unified, vigilant,
engaged, properly staffed, and fairly compensated work force.
I appreciate the challenge of identifying resources needed
to continue ensuring transportation security. The current 9/11
security fees generate over $4 billion in revenue to the
Federal Government. However, a portion of this fee revenue has
been diverted since fiscal year 2014 to deficit reduction. It
does not all go to aviation security, despite the fee's name.
Last year alone, $1.6 billion of the 9/11 security fees paid by
passengers were deposited into the Treasury, not used as an
offset to TSA's funding needs as originally intended.
The President submitted a legislative proposal to end this
fee diversion last year and again this year. If enacted, it
would provide $1.6 billion in additional offsetting collections
to TSA's budget, more than enough to offset the additional
costs of fair pay and to support our technology investments.
This is an authorization and an appropriation issue. I ask
for your support to end the fee diversion and put the funds to
their intended purpose, as the President has requested.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today.
I look forward to your questions and to working with all of you
over the coming years to ensure TSA has the authorities and the
resources needed to meet our mission.
Thank you, sir.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Pekoske follows:]
Prepared Statement of David P. Pekoske
June 22, 2023
Good afternoon Chairman Gimenez, Ranking Member Thanedar, and
distinguished Members of the subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to
testify on the President's fiscal year 2024 President's budget request,
which includes a $10.4 billion request for the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA). I am honored to be here and am grateful for the
long-standing and constructive partnership TSA enjoys with this
subcommittee and all the support you have provided over the years. I
look forward to working with the new Members of the committee,
including Ranking Member Thanedar, Representative LaLota,
Representative Lee, and Representative Garcia.
First and foremost, I would like to thank the committee and
Congress for your continued support of our workforce most notably
through approving the increased pay plan which was included in the
fiscal year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Act. The President's fiscal
year 2024 budget request includes the annualization of the pay plan
Congress approved in fiscal year 2023. This pay plan matches the
minimum compensation levels with the General Schedule (GS) pay scale
and makes the pay for the TSA workforce comparable to every other
Federal employee. I want to be clear that pay initiatives must include
all TSA employees. Oftentimes many of our TSA employees who are not
customer-facing are overlooked. We must acknowledge and recognize their
impact and contributions to our overall mission. Every link in the
chain of our TSA workforce is equal and contributes directly to the
security of our transportation systems. All are due the respect,
treatment, and pay that they have earned. The comparable pay plan was
not only the right thing to do by our work force, but it is already
paying dividends in ways that will have a measurable impact on mission
performance. Since the December 2022 announcement that Congress
included funding for comparable pay in the 2023 Omnibus, we have
already seen the following indicators of success:
Attrition trends indicate that TSA may realize as much as a
40-50 percent reduction in attrition moving forward. When you
factor the estimated cost of over $12,000 to on-board new
staff, this will result in a significant cost savings for the
Government.
TSA has gone from losing an average of 381 officers per 2-
week pay period at the beginning of the fiscal year down to
losing an average of 202 officers per pay period over the last
5 pay periods. At almost half the losses, if this trend
continues, we may need to hire as many as 5,000 fewer officers
next year.
At the same time that we are reducing attrition, we are
continuing to hire and are achieving net gains in overall
officer head count. The pay period ending April 22, 2023 was
our fifth pay period in a row in which we saw our total officer
head count increase, and over the past 5 pay periods we have
averaged a net increase of 212 officers per pay period.
Additionally, I would also want to take this opportunity to
acknowledge the superior efforts of the entire TSA workforce, convey
what they have accomplished, and explain our future goals and
objectives. So far in fiscal year 2023:
TSA has screened 550 million travelers, an average of more
than 2.2 million passengers per day, with 99.2 percent of
passengers waiting less than 30 minutes at airport security
checkpoints, and 98.8 percent of TSA PreCheck passengers
waiting less than 10 minutes. We need to maintain our wait time
standards while ensuring security in light of increasing
passenger volumes.
As of June 7, 2023, TSA has deployed 302 CAT-1 systems,
upgraded 115 CAT-1 systems to CAT-2 capability, and deployed
217 new CT systems, which significantly improve security
effectiveness and efficiency while reducing physical contact.
TSA has begun the process of enrolling 10 new airlines as
well as nearly 3 million more individuals, and achieved the
milestone of exceeding 16 million enrolled members in the TSA
PreCheck Program. We are also working to on-board additional
enrollment vendors to expand enrollment options:
This expansion of enrollment providers will increase the
network of locations where applicants may go to complete
their membership in TSA PreCheck.
TSA PreCheck programs provide more efficient screening and
a better checkpoint experience, while also maintaining the
required level of security for passengers by allowing TSA
to allocate resources to areas of the greatest risk. TSA
also vets over 30 million individuals across transportation
worker populations on a daily basis. TSA's vetting of
transportation workers comprises intelligence-related
checks and may also include checks for lawful presence and/
or criminal history record information.
We've provided assistance to 42,277 passengers with
disabilities/medical conditions and/or required special
assistance via the TSA Cares program. We are on pace to provide
assistance to 63,416 passengers in all of fiscal year 2023,
which would represent a 39 percent increase over fiscal year
2022 (45,502). Passengers indicated autism spectrum as the
medical condition that they need assistance with the most in
fiscal year 2023 (9,424 or 22 percent of all requests). It
remained the top reason for special assistance for the fifth
consecutive fiscal year.
Our screening workforce has prevented more than 4,500
firearms from being carried into the secure area of airports or
airplane passenger cabins, after a record-setting year in 2022.
This is a testament to the security proficiency of our
Transportation Security Officers.
We have trained 4,120 flight crew members in Crew Member
Self-Defense training to address increasing trends in unruly
passengers, and partnered with the Federal Aviation
Administration to rescind TSA PreCheck eligibility for
passengers who are disruptive aboard flights or during security
screening. In especially egregious situations, TSA has taken
action to limit individuals from flying in the future if they
are assessed to pose a threat to aviation security.
The Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) covered aviation
security missions involving identified high-risk travelers,
served on Federal task forces with our law enforcement partner
agencies to investigate transportation terrorism and criminal
acts, and continued to lead TSA's Insider Threat program. FAMS
also provided security enhancements to all transportation
modes. The Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR)
Teams completed over 4,800 missions in aviation and surface
transportation modes.
We expanded the Transportation Security Officer (TSO) new
hire training from 2 to 3 weeks, providing additional
instruction on image interpretation, TSA culture, enhancing the
passenger experience, and improved focus and concentration. TSA
trained over 5,222 TSO new hires as of June 7, 2023, and this
month TSA officially opened TSA Academy West adjacent to Harry
Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada.
TSA established the first performance-based, outcome-focused
cybersecurity-related Security Directives and Security Program
Amendments that require mandatory incident reporting and the
adoption of mitigation measures to the most critical owners and
operators of transportation infrastructure in pipelines, rail,
and aviation. TSA is committed to enhancing and sustaining
industry's resilience to cybersecurity attacks. TSA is working
on a rule making that will permanently codify critical
cybersecurity requirements for pipeline and rail modes.
TSA published Information Circulars to Transportation
Systems Sector stakeholders with recommended actions to reduce
vulnerabilities associated with cybersecurity-related threats.
We also published the Innovation Doctrine--the first of its
kind in Government, which lays out agreed-upon current best
practices and establishes mechanisms like Local Innovation for
TSA (LIFT) Cells across the country to foster a culture of
innovation, provide resources and pathways to solve local-level
problems, and expand the innovation ecosystem around
transportation security. It also creates an Innovation
Pipeline, a disciplined, repeatable, and scalable process for
innovation across TSA to out-innovate those that threaten the
traveling public, and leverages the TSA Innovation Task Force's
expertise in the evaluation and demonstration of promising
technologies.
We continued several programs and initiatives to recruit and
retain TSOs, including:
A performance-based rewards program called the Model
Officer Recognition that provided 19,478 monetary awards or
pay increases to top-performing TSOs in fiscal year 2022;
Authorized TSO retention incentives at 144 airports,
benefiting more than 10,000 employees Nation-wide. Although
these are still needed in certain locations moving forward,
the pay equity funded by the fiscal year 2023 enactment
will dramatically reduce the need for these incentives.
TSA and our partners expanded digital identity technologies
that improve security and enhance the customer experience,
including testing TSA PreCheck touchless identity solutions,
collaborating with Apple and other private-sector partners to
incorporate mobile driver's licenses (mDL) into security
checkpoint operations, and publishing an Identity Management
Roadmap which lays out a comprehensive end-to-end strategy for
identity verification at TSA.
In coordination with DHS Science &Technology, TSA
established an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Test Bed Program
at Los Angeles International Airport--in addition to the
previously-established one at Miami International Airport--to
test and evaluate detection, tracking, and identification
technology for UAS that enter restricted air space. TSA
continues to collect data on performance of these various
technologies to share with industry and Government partners.
TSA's vision is to remain agile, embodied by a professional
workforce that engages its partners and the American people to address
current and future challenges and threats to the homeland. To that end,
within the first year of my term as administrator, I issued the ``TSA
Strategy'' and established three strategic priorities to guide the
agency's workforce through its 25th anniversary: (1) Improve Security
and Safeguard the Nation's Transportation System; (2) Accelerate
Action; and (3) Commit to Our People. I have twice published
Administrator's Intent documents delineating and updating the short-
and medium-term goals and objectives to achieve those strategic
priorities. At the end of this month, I expect to publish the third
iteration of the Administrator's Intent, which will focus on the 20
most critical cross-cutting issues that require collaboration across
the entire agency with senior executive accountability. We have been in
close consultation with your staff and our stakeholders regarding the
issues that should be included in this document. The Administrator's
Intent 3.0 is aligned with the Department of Homeland Security's
priorities as well as national strategies and directives including the
National Security Strategy, the National Cybersecurity Strategy, and
the Executive Order on Transforming Federal Customer Experience and
Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government.
We have also strengthened our partnerships across the spectrum--
from private industry, to foreign partners and international
organizations, advisory committees, academia, State and local
governments, and our Federal partners--in order to increase
collaboration, security, information sharing, and maximizing the
customer experience in the new travel environment while minimizing
negative impacts on travelers and commerce.
Securing and safeguarding the Nation's transportation system
requires innovative solutions to address cybersecurity threats and
risks associated with the continued integration of advanced electronic
and networked systems. The fiscal year 2024 President's budget includes
an increase of $10.4 million for cybersecurity staffing, as well as the
development and implementation of enhanced cybersecurity-related
measures to improve cyber resiliency across the U.S. Transportation
Systems Sector. Across the transportation sector, TSA continues to help
partners build cyber resilience and improve incident response, focusing
on the pipeline, rail, and aviation sub-sectors. With those
stakeholders, TSA hosts a variety of planning meetings, intelligence
briefings, and tabletop exercises to ensure partners are aware and
prepared to respond to emerging issues. I have personally visited
pipelines and other critical infrastructure operators to discuss the
evolving cybersecurity threat, and to understand the challenges and
successes of implementing the current security directives and program
amendments.
This year, as required by Congress, TSA will deliver for the first
time an unconstrained Capital Investment Plan that describes an ideal
future state in which TSA is able to mitigate more risk to the
transportation sector with additional resources. It is imperative that
TSA continues to invest in, acquire, and field new technologies to
strengthen transportation security.
The transportation sector will remain a top target for malicious
actors including international and domestic terrorists due to the
prevalence of soft targets within the sector, the public accessibility
of many transportation modes, and the importance of transportation
infrastructure to the Nation. The agency carefully monitors this
evolving threat environment and the need to strategically manage risks.
Risk-based decision making is inherent to the TSA mission of protecting
the Nation's transportation systems to ensure the freedom of movement
for people and commerce. The challenges and risks TSA encounters will
foreseeably become more complex, and the agency needs to position
itself to be both more strategic in responding to risks and in
developing solutions. A critical dependency in risk mitigation is
sufficient funding that would allow TSA to continue to evolve
transportation security in high-risk areas.
In conjunction with the fiscal year 2024 President's budget, the
administration offers two proposals to increase availability of funding
to resource TSA's strategic priorities and help TSA address emerging
threats. First, it includes a legislative proposal to end the diversion
of passenger fee collections for deficit reduction and make $1.6
billion of the fees available for their intended purpose of offsetting
TSA's Operations and Support appropriation for aviation security.
Second, the budget includes a legislative proposal to transition access
control at exit lanes to airport authorities and commercial airports
under Federal regulatory authorities, which will result in a projected
savings of $111.0 million. If approved, TSA will work with the
remaining airports that do not currently provide their own exit lane
security to integrate exit lane security into their perimeter security
plans and assess those plans regularly. The proposal will enable TSA to
better focus its resources on screening functions and risk-based
security measures.
TSA's level of success is influenced by the help of Congress as
well as our professional, vigilant, and engaged workforce. That is why
``Commit to Our People'' is one of our three strategic priorities. The
initial funding Congress provided in fiscal year 2023 to TSA allows for
that continued commitment. The fiscal year 2024 President's budget
includes $1.4 billion to fully support the TSA workforce pay
initiatives started in fiscal year 2023.
The strategic priority of ``Commit to Our People'' also entails
ensuring that we provide our workforce with the necessary advanced
technology to be successful. Today's evolving threats require a dynamic
and responsive TSA. Access to greater technology enables our passenger
screening workforce to assess potential threats quickly and efficiently
and also supports a more seamless experience for the traveler. To that
end, the fiscal year 2024 President's budget includes $70.4 million to
procure additional systems within the Checkpoint Property Screening
System (CPSS) (i.e. Computed Tomography (CT)), and $11.0 million for
Credential Authentication Technology (CAT) programs. These systems will
address capability gaps, and detect new and evolving threats to civil
aviation in current property screening technology reliably and
efficiently, while also improving the customer experience. It is
imperative that we equip our front-line workforce with the necessary
tools to combat persistent threats. TSA needs a total of 3,585 CAT and
2,263 CT machines to reach full operational capability (FOC).
Currently, CPSS procurements are an estimated 38 percent of FOC, which
puts deployments at approximately 30 percent for CPSS and 57 percent
for CAT. Based on past, present, and current projected funding, TSA
will meet FOC for CAT machines and CPSS in fiscal year 2049 and fiscal
year 2042, respectively. Full and dedicated funding for CPSS and CAT is
imperative to our Nation's security.
Furthermore, there are a number of investments in Operation and
Support that require sustained funding to ensure the transportation
sector stays secure. Some of these investments include:
$251.0 million to provide the TSA workforce a 5.2 percent
pay raise.
$39.0 million for Transportation Security Equipment
Maintenance to fund anticipated maintenance costs of TSA's
checkpoint and checked baggage screening technologies based on
current contractual requirements.
$19.0 million and 24 positions for the implementation and
expansion of the REAL ID Program.
$11.3 million for maintenance, technical support, and
engineering contracts for Credential Authentication Technology.
$10.0 million to properly support the National Deployment
Office Travel increases, which will further support the
deployment of officers to airports in need of additional
staffing.
$4.5 million and 45 positions to expand and enhance
dedicated pipeline security assessment teams to conduct
inspections and assessments on the Surface Transportation
System.
$3.8 million to enhance TSA's Insider Threat Program.
$2.7 million and 6 positions to support Executive Order
14058 to enhance Customer Experience Strategic initiatives.
As you know, TSA was established by the Aviation and Transportation
Security Act in the wake of the September 11 attacks and was given the
urgent task of protecting our Nation's transportation systems. Since
that day, we have remained steadfast in our commitment to provide the
highest level of security across all modes of transportation and work
with our partners to stay ahead of evolving threats. In the years since
9/11, and specifically over the past fiscal year, TSA has not only had
to address ever-present physical threats to aviation, but also dynamic
and emerging cybersecurity threats to our Nation's aviation, rail, as
well as hazardous liquid and natural gas pipeline infrastructure. TSA
works closely with the transportation industry to provide agile and
responsive security across all modes of transportation through
passenger and cargo screening, vetting and credentialing personnel in
critical transportation sectors, law enforcement, regulatory
compliance, and international cooperation.
Today, within the aviation network, TSA is responsible for the
security of more than 430 Federalized airports, with screening services
forecasted this summer for more than 22,000 domestic flights (at pre-
pandemic levels) and nearly 2,300 outbound international flights per
day. With travel volume rebounding, TSA routinely screens more than 2.2
million passengers, 5 million carry-on bags and 1.4 million pieces of
checked baggage daily for explosives and other dangerous items, and in
many locations across the Nation. TSA expects passenger volume to
eventually exceed our pre-pandemic fiscal year 2019 levels, which
averaged up to 2.3 million per day. The fiscal year 2024 President's
budget includes $197.1 million to enable TSA to continue to recruit and
retain a workforce able to meet increasing demands of passenger travel
volume and maintaining security effectiveness. In addition to these
core security functions, we also ensure regulatory compliance in
aviation through the work of more than 1,285 aviation, cargo, and
surface transportation security inspectors.
In the surface realm, TSA works closely with transportation system
owners and operators to protect the critical surface transportation
systems that connect cities, manufacturers, and retailers and power our
economy through more than 4 million miles of roadways; nearly 140,000
miles of railroad track; more than 470 tunnels; and over 3.3 million
miles of pipeline. TSA's security inspectors conduct approximately
8,000 surface inspections annually in pursuing a risk-based approach
for securing a large and complex network of transportation systems and
critical infrastructure.
Since TSA's creation, the modes and methods of terrorist attacks
have become more decentralized and opportunistic, and aviation and
other transport hubs remain high-value targets. Threats to aviation and
surface transportation are persistent and constantly-evolving. To meet
these challenges, we must continue to be responsive, innovate, rapidly
deploy new solutions, and maximize the impact of our resources.
The fiscal year 2024 President's budget aligns with TSA's strategy
to improve security and safeguard the Nation's transportation system,
accelerate action, and reinforce TSA's commitment to advancing its
strategy. Thanks to Congress' support for TSA through the fiscal year
2023 enactment, the fiscal year 2024 President's budget honors
commitments to our workforce by providing appropriate compensation and
other benefits while addressing capability gaps to ensure that the
Nation's transportation security remains the safest in the world.
Securing our Nation's transportation system is a complex task that
requires robust partnerships and a well-trained, dedicated workforce.
Funding in the fiscal year 2024 President's budget will have a positive
impact on all TSA employees--from Transportation Security Officers,
Federal Air Marshals, inspectors, canine handlers, explosive
specialists, intelligence and vetting analysts, and management to
administrative and professional employees--as well as on transportation
security and the passenger experience. To achieve the priorities
reflected within the fiscal year 2024 President's budget, we will
continue to engage with industry and stakeholders, invest resources in
our employees and technology, and encourage the public to be part of
the solution. Finally, through constructive oversight and dialog, we
seek to continue to partner with Congress as we work to secure all
modes of transportation for the public.
Chairman Gimenez, Ranking Member Thanedar, and Members of the
subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you
today. I strongly believe that the TSA priorities outlined in the
fiscal year 2024 President's budget are not only necessary but timely
and vital to our economy. As always, we will be very responsive to
addressing any questions that you might have throughout this budget
process and I look forward to this discussion and your questions. Thank
you.
Mr. Gimenez. Thank you, Administrator.
Members will be recognized by order of seniority for their
5 minutes of questioning.
I now recognize myself for 5 minutes of questioning.
Administrator, you said that, if I heard you right, that
some people have their pay reduced?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. We start to pay--the fiscal year
2023 omnibus appropriation authorized pay for every single TSA
employee. All we're asking for and all of the Congress provided
was pay at the same pay scale as every other Federal employee
just about. This pay begins on the 2nd of July. People will see
it in their direct deposit accounts on the 24th of July. So
that--that pay is already rolling and moving out.
We provided letters to every single employee in the agency
in April that showed their current pay and their pay under the
amounts appropriated by the Congress in fiscal year 2023. We
did that because we wanted them to be aware of what the exact
calculation is. We also wanted to make sure that, if there were
any mistakes or any misunderstandings, we corrected them back
in April rather than in July.
So the work force has been aware since the bill passed in
December, and certainly, on a personal basis, the personal
impact to them by individual letter from us and then with their
direct deposits beginning in--you know, toward the end of July.
Mr. Gimenez. Are you saying that in fiscal year 2024, some
people will get their pay reduced?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. I would add to that that, you know--
--
Mr. Gimenez. I mean, actually reduced, not in comparison to
somebody else. It will be reduced.
Mr. Pekoske. It will be reduced, yes, sir. It will be
reduced to what it is today. So we----
Mr. Gimenez. They'll get--so they'll get a pay increase for
how long?
Mr. Pekoske. Three months.
Mr. Gimenez. Three months. Then it will go back----
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir.
Mr. Gimenez [continuing]. Down.
Mr. Pekoske. Right.
Mr. Gimenez. Fair enough. I'd like to get some--I'd like to
get that and see the graph of what that impact would be,
please.
Mr. Pekoske. Sure.
Mr. Gimenez. I don't think we were aware of that.
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir.
Mr. Gimenez. All right. Moving on. Your CT scan--your CT
machines, would the increase in funding that was of $30
million, and if we assume that that's going to be continuing,
you had--originally you had a--a term--a completion date of
2042.
With $30 million more per year, et cetera, when is that
completion right now?
Mr. Pekoske. I believe the completion date, sir, was 2042.
That would probably close it up by a year or two. But we're
ready. We have the ability now, with the contracts we already
have in place, we already know what technology we want to buy.
We've tested it. We've put it in operational use. We can spend
up to $300 million just on CT machines.
Mr. Gimenez. Three hundred million right now?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir.
Mr. Gimenez. OK.
Mr. Pekoske. This would be $300 million not to put machines
in warehouses but to put machines in airports.
Mr. Gimenez. Fair enough. Are you--are you working with an
outside agency, like Clear, to try to offset some of the
operational needs that you may have at the airports?
Mr. Pekoske. We work with many, many outside entities.
Really that's the strength of our system. We work very closely
with the airports, with carriers, other providers. We work very
cooperatively with that. I mean, our goal is to make sure that,
for me, my--my North Star is to ensure that we continue to
improve security and that everybody in the ecosystem of
aviation security and surface security is contributing to that
effort.
Mr. Gimenez. Move on to REAL ID and your time table for
REAL ID. What is your time table for REAL ID now?
Mr. Pekoske. Sir, the Secretary extended the deadline for
REAL ID until May 2024, so--or 2025. I'm sorry. So it's out a
couple of years. We're working very hard to make sure that we
hit that deadline date. We work very closely with the States,
with the associations that coordinate State activity, with
departments of motor vehicles in trying to put a system in
place where we provide a gradual level of notification to
travelers.
For example, let's say for argument's sake, 5 or 6 months
out, if somebody comes to our checkpoint, does not have a REAL
ID-compliant driver's license, we orally advise them that, hey,
if they don't have a passport, that driver's license cannot be
used as their sole identification beginning on the deadline
date. So to, you know, really try get a more personal focus on
individuals who have not yet received their REAL ID driver's
license.
Mr. Gimenez. I think it's going to be a problem. I know
that my license doesn't expire until 2026.
Mr. Pekoske. Uh-huh.
Mr. Gimenez. I don't believe it's REAL ID.
The other thing that I--you know, I do have--so folks that
have, say, Global Entry and they have an ID card for Global
Entry, I understand that that's not--you can't use that for
entry. Or can you now?
Mr. Pekoske. We have on our website, Chairman, a list of
acceptable forms of identification. Most travelers would likely
use a passport for a--as a form of identification, which is an
acceptable form of ID. If a passenger presents themself at the
checkpoint without an acceptable form of ID, we have an
alternate resolution process that is time-consuming.
Our concern is that if we have a lot of people on the
deadline date in 2025, it will slow down the process for
everyone. That's why we want to get ahead of it as much as we
can. We're working very closely with the State DMVs to assess
the adoption of REAL ID within their new driver's license
issuances, and trying to keep the messaging out there as
strongly as we can.
Mr. Gimenez. Fair enough.
My time has expired.
I now recognize the Ranking--Ranking Member Thompson. Do
you have any questions?
Mr. Thompson. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Pekoske, as you know, I recently introduced the Fund
the TSA Act, which would provide funding for salary increases
and expand labor rights for TSA workers, additional computer
tomography machines, as well as critical airport support for
law enforcement and canine program. This bill would raise
passenger security fees by $2 per one-way ticket, end the
diversion of fees away from TSA to the general treasury, which
has cost us $1.4 billion annually, and go toward our workers
and other improvements.
Although no one likes increase in fees, in order for us to
really help our workers and maintain this progress that we're
talking about, would you support advancing the Fund the TSA Act
to secure the funding needed for fair pay and labor rights for
TSA workers and other TSA priorities?
Mr. Pekoske. Mr. Ranking Member, everything in the TS--the
Fund the TSA Act are things that we desperately need as an
agency. I think everybody can understand if--if a person's
receiving a certain level of pay in July and August and
September, and then, let's say for argument's sake, the budget
passes at the beginning of the fiscal year and that pay goes
down, that will have an incredibly negative impact on the work
force of TSA.
Additionally, as the administrator, I would be faced with
the challenge of managing two different pay scales within the
same agency.
One thing that I think a lot of people ought to consider as
well is that we have many, many Transportation Security
Officers that, fortunately for the agency, advance to different
positions. They bring their screening skills, their passenger
interaction skills to other positions within the agency. If you
don't provide the funding increase across the board, there's
going to be less and less of a financial benefit for them to do
that, other than career advancement, which many will still do
for reasons that are, you know, that are for them a level of
professional development.
The other thing that I would highlight is you can imagine
how hard it is for us in our headquarters positions. If
somebody is doing the very same job in TSA and they could get
so much more money working for another Federal agency, it makes
it hard to retain that talent in TSA, particularly in places
like Washington, DC, where it's very easy to switch employers.
So, you know, I look at the immediate impact on people, and
I also look on the long-term impact on the agency.
Other thing, sir, that I would add is, you know, I have
worked--and you and I have talked about this many, many times
over the last 5.5 years--of trying to do whatever we can to
improve the workplace environment within TSA. I've tried
everything, as you know, within my authority and within the
funds that we could bring together to be able to put resources
to the issue.
The No. 1 thing that affects workplace morale in TSA is
pay. But the No. 2 thing is the relationships and the manner in
which people are led sometimes within the agency.
I think that, you know, we've tried everything. Having a
full collective bargaining agreement is critically important
for us to take that next step and make sure that we have a
fulsome way that people can provide input into the things we
do, they can provide an assessment of proposals that we make in
a collective bargaining environment, and also have appeal
rights like every other employee has. So I think those are
critical.
Mr. Thompson. Well, thank you much. I think it would be
heartless on our part to give people a raise and then take it
back. I just think that that's not----
Mr. Pekoske. Right.
Mr. Thompson [continuing]. Who we are as a government. I've
never known it to happen in any other agency. So hopefully
we'll work something out so our loyal employees won't--won't be
caught in the lurch.
As you know, Clear, as the Chairman talked about earlier,
operates a passenger convenient--convenience program that allow
their members to cut in the front of the TSA security
checkpoint. But we also are aware of some problems that have
come up over the last several months.
So can you commit to closing any security gaps that you've
identified in this situation?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. I--I'm fully committed to that.
Further, in my view, any security gap that TSA identifies, to
me, that's my job is to make sure that we identify those gaps
and close them as quickly as we can. Sometimes it requires
resourcing, and that's when we come back to the Congress.
Sometimes it might require a little bit of a different
authorization, but we need to close whatever security gaps we
have.
Sir, the strategy that we put out in 2018, the very first
thing in the strategy in terms of a strategic goal is to
improve security, because our adversaries get better and better
all the time. We have to stay well ahead of them.
Mr. Thompson. Thank you.
I yield back, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Gimenez. The gentleman's time has expired.
I now recognize the gentleman from Louisiana, Mr. Higgins.
Mr. Higgins. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Pekoske, for being with us today. It's good
to see you again.
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir.
Mr. Higgins. Your office is always accessible and works
very well whenever we reach out. So thank you for your
leadership.
So discussing budget, we have obviously difficult decisions
to make in Congress to protect the people's treasure. We all
work at the pleasure of the citizenry that we serve, and we
must be--we must be focused on good stewardship of the people's
treasure. So we're in the same boat there.
So on the one hand, I recognize that our Nation carries
crippling debt. This must be addressed, and very few of us here
would argue that the size and scope of the United States
Federal Government was too small in 2022. So we have to make
difficult budget decisions. We're not going to do it at the
cost of an American citizen's pay that has been adjusted
appropriately to be relatively equivalent to their colleagues
in a similar position in another division of Government.
So it's a moment when we stand united, I believe, on both
sides of the aisle to find a way forward there to protect your
TSA workers' pay increase.
That being said, I'm going to ask you about a couple of
areas of your budget and ask you to explain to the American
people how you deal with that. Your budget request, TSA's
request included two legislative proposals that include
terminating the deficit reduction contribution of the aviation
passenger security fee and eliminating exit lane staffing by
TSO.
So the aviation passenger security fee would return $1.56
billion annually to TSA currently. That revenue from the
passenger fee, which is about $11.20 for a roundtrip ticket----
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir.
Mr. Higgins [continuing]. That money is required by statute
to go back to the Treasury. We want to return that to TSA.
So if we got that done, how would that impact your budget
request regarding protecting your people's pay?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. The number, correct, $1.56 billion
in fiscal 2024, that would pay for our pay increase. So it's
directly relevant.
Mr. Higgins. OK. That was an honest answer. My goodness.
Thank you for a straight, honest answer.
The objective would be to move forward with the TSA
services that are provided to the people, crucial for our--the
safety of travel and--and prepare for the coming years. I mean,
you're dealing with two--I think 2.2 million people a day. It's
a stunning number when you look at it. What you guys are
accomplishing is amazing.
You're looking at over 3 million during the travel season
this summer, I believe you stated that?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. We should be very close to 3
million. If we don't see it this summer, we'll likely see it--
--
Mr. Higgins. Over 3 million a day.
Mr. Pekoske. Uh-huh.
Mr. Higgins. So as we look over the next decade, which is
the way things are done with budgets up here, we look at 10
years of expense, what kind of volume, just from your
perspective, could we look at per day in 5 or 10 years at TSA?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. Mr. Higgins, thanks very much for
your comments.
Generally, a rule of thumb is that passenger volume growth
in aviation increases by about 4 percent compounded year over
year.
Mr. Higgins. Four percent per year?
Mr. Pekoske. Year over year, yes, sir. That's what----
Mr. Higgins. That's what you're seeing historically for
growth?
Mr. Pekoske. Right.
Mr. Higgins. OK. Well, we can extrapolate those numbers and
look at significant growth. I mean----
Mr. Pekoske. Uh-huh.
Mr. Higgins [continuing]. It's increasing by roughly half
what you're doing now. So you'd be looking at 4 million people
a day during your busy season within the next decade.
Mr. Pekoske. I think that's fair, yes, sir.
Mr. Higgins. Yes, sir. Well, I must say that your office
has been excellent to work with.
Mr. Pekoske. Thank you.
Mr. Higgins. We have challenges for budget decisions to
make. I feel quite confident that we'll be able to maintain and
grow the capabilities of TSA and protect your workers' pay
raise, and at the same time address the seemingly never-ending
growth of the size and scope and expense of the Federal
Government. It would be more efficient and take care of our
people.
Mr. Chairman, my time has expired, and I yield.
Mr. Gimenez. The gentleman's time has expired.
I now recognize the Ranking Member of the subcommittee, Mr.
Thanedar.
Mr. Thanedar. Thank you, Chairman.
Mr. Administrator, I'm really concerned about the potential
impact to TSA's mission if Congress fails to provide funding
for increased pay, collective bargaining rights, and necessary
staffing levels.
I'm glad there seems to be some agreement on the need to
maintain increased pay for front-line officers, but we must
make sure that any continuing resolution includes an anomaly to
continue that funding.
I have several questions and I'll ask them all and then
give you some time to respond. But, Mr. Administrator, what
would be some of the impacts to TSA if Congress were to fail to
fund TSO pay increases in 2024?
Mr. Administrator, I'm also concerned about Republicans'
efforts to limit pay reforms to TSOs and cut the pay for
Federal Air Marshals, canine handlers, and other critical
employees. How important are those employees to TSA's mission,
and what would be some of the impacts of cutting their pay?
Let me continue for another minute or so. I'm also
concerned about cuts proposed by Republicans to defund TSA's
Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response program. The VIPR
program is essential to TSA's efforts to support local law
enforcement and secure mass transit and other modes of
transportation across the country.
TSA's surface transportation security efforts are already
underresourced, even though far more people ride the subway
each day than fly on a plane. Mr. Administrator, how critical
are TSA's VIPR teams in securing mass transit?
Mr. Pekoske. Thank you for your questions, sir. I'll go
down in the order that you asked the questions.
Were TSOs not able to continue the pay that will begin on
the 2nd of July, the impact would be devastating to air travel
in the country. Wait times in our checkpoints would approach 2
hours, without question, and we would also significantly lose
an experience base amongst the Transportation Security
Officers. I mean, that's something that we saw over the prior 2
years is that our average experience level was going down by
several months in major airport checkpoint operations, which is
really not what you want to see. So the impact on TSOs would be
incredibly visible and very debilitating for the transportation
system.
With respect to the others, depending on the--on the extent
of the reduction and the number of people that left as a
result, we might be challenged for Federal Air Marshals to
provide in-flight security. We have a very risk-based approach
for air marshal deployment so that we ensure air marshals are
on flights where we know there's additional risk presented.
That means that we're going to be accepting a whole lot more
risk at 35- or 45,000 feet, which I don't think anybody, any of
us in this room want to do.
Additionally, our inspectors do amazing work with all of
the owners and operators of transportation infrastructure in
the country. I think we have a very good relationship as a
regulator with the regulated parties, and I think we've been
very responsible in that regard. Just to acknowledge the owners
and operators of these systems, they've put a lot of investment
into making sure that they meet the requirements that we have.
We would not be able to be as good a partner with them as we
are today.
We have put out some very significant cybersecurity
regulations over the last 2 years. We've been very targeted
with this in terms of looking at the most critical owners and
operators in a surface and an aviation sector, and also just
targeting the critical cyber system. So we've tried to be as
targeted as we possibly can be. We would lose a lot of that
talent, and we would not be able to provide the cybersecurity
baseline support to make sure that our critical transportation
systems are protected. Importantly, if successfully attacked,
they wouldn't be able to get back on their feet nearly as
quickly.
With respect to VIPRs, the visible intermodal protection
and response, they have been a really great success story. I
mean, there's 35 teams that work throughout the country. They
work in support of Amtrak. They work in support of rail and
other transit systems. Their name really--really describes well
what they do. They have a visible presence.
You know, our goal is to prevent as much as we can possibly
prevent, and that visible presence on the part of an officer is
very, very important. We are now providing more VIPR presence
in airports to augment local law enforcement in airports. As
you know, we have a concern about insider threat across
critical infrastructure in the country. Having more presence
provides the deterrence, and that's very beneficial.
So all of those functions that you describe are critical to
our success in making sure that the transportation system,
which is the underpinning for the United States economy,
remains safe and secure.
Mr. Thanedar. Thank you so much.
Chairman, I yield back.
I look forward to meeting you soon and----
Mr. Pekoske. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Thanedar [continuing]. And sitting down.
Mr. Pekoske. Appreciate it. Me too.
Mr. Thanedar. Yes.
Mr. Pekoske. Thanks.
Mr. Gimenez. Thank you.
The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr.
Garcia.
Mr. Garcia. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank the administrator for serving, first, both
our country as Vice Admiral of the Coast Guard and now as our
administrator at TSA. I appreciated joining you and your team
not that long ago for that conversation.
The TSA, of course, is critical to securing our air travel,
ports, highways, transit, pipelines. I'm grateful to the 60,000
Federal TSA workers that work hard every single day and are
certainly an important line of defense. These workers deserve
the dignity of their work to be protected and that starts, of
course, with paying them as the professionals that they are.
TSA workers traditionally have been paid lower than other
Federal workers. That's something that you and I discussed and
that's been brought up today at this hearing. We know that this
is not acceptable and has a negative impact on quality, on
retention, on folks being able to move within the organization,
and for security preparedness which at the very core is the
most important.
TSOs have been treated also as second-class Federal workers
in the past, but I'm grateful that there are steps being taken
to improve that. The Biden-Harris administration is taking
steps, as we know, to remedy this, from expanding full title 5
employee protections, to granting full collective bargaining
rights, access to the Merit System Protections Board, and
raising pay, all really important for the work force.
The Biden-Harris administration and the Democratic Congress
have also made a much-needed downpayment last year on pay
equity, and now this Congress needs to keep its promise to
these TSA works by fully funding pay equity.
I'm a proud cosponsor of the Ranking Member's TSA act, Fund
the TSA Act, which, of course, would fund pay increases and
collective bargaining rights for front-line TSA employees,
while ending fee diversion of the passenger security fee.
We all know, of course, that the, unfortunately, the
Republican Majority has fallen short, in our opinion, in their
commitment to TSA workers. While keeping the higher pay for
front-line TSO officers, the fiscal year 2024 Homeland Security
Appropriations bill leaves behind a vast amount of TSA's work
force, and they are being underpaid.
Administrator, am I correct that under the marked-up
Homeland Security bill, Federal Air Marshals, explosive
specialists, and canine officers would face pay cuts that would
place their pay well below similar officers in other
departments?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir, you're absolutely correct. I'll give
you one example. If you look at the Federal Air Marshals, law
enforcement officers, their pay would be cut by 20 percent on
average. That's a big cut.
Mr. Garcia. Just so to be clear again, the current Homeland
Security bill that has been marked up essentially lowers the
pay for many of our TSA officers. That was a ``yes'' answer.
That's honestly quite shameful and something that should be
addressed by this committee.
Am I correct in saying that lower pay and fewer civil
service protections typically don't have a positive impact on
employee morale and retention?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir, very correct, evidenced by the
Federal Employee Viewpoint Surveys for TSA.
Mr. Garcia. Thank you, sir. I'm not sure why the Republican
House majority wants to actually cut the pay of our TSA
workers. I'm not sure why they want to actually lower the
morale and retention of our TSA workers.
Am I correct also that low employee morale and a lack of
retention has a negative impact on our Nation's security?
Mr. Pekoske. It does.
Mr. Garcia. So, again, I'm not sure why the House
Republican Majority wants to actually have a negative impact on
our Nation's security, but they're clearly doing that through
the bill that's been marked up.
Currently, the security fee paid by passengers is diverted
to the general fund. Could you also just explain for us briefly
how this is harmful to TSA worker pay and its technology and
security functions?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. About $1.56 billion in fiscal 2024
money gets diverted to deficit reduction, which means that
that's $1.54 billion that can't offset the funding needs for
TSA. It would basically raise our top line.
Mr. Garcia. Thank you. That's a--that's an important
answer.
It just--just the last note, just more of a sidenote
comment. I just want to also just commend the work force.
Obviously, this is a very, very hard job. See a lot of your
work force, of course, going through our airports, in and out
of the airports, and I just want to thank them for clearly the
adjustments that have been made, especially in the last few
years, around treating all passengers with dignity, the
bringing in of new technology, which I imagine has been a
difficult transition.
But the experience, at least I believe, of actually getting
through security in the last few years for all passengers,
whether it's through TSA PreCheck or--or--or the regular
process, I think has improved. I think the technology has
actually been a big part of that.
I want to just note that the investments in technology and
investing in TSA is not just a security concern, but it also is
a customer service improvement for all of the folks that are
going in and out of our airports. I just want to thank you for
you and your team's work.
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir. Thank you.
Mr. Garcia. I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Gimenez. The gentleman yields back.
The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from New York, Mr.
LaLota.
Mr. LaLota. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Admiral, thanks so much for being with us. I appreciate all
your decades of service in the Coast Guard and now with the
TSA.
Sir, I want to start off by saying thank you for doing
that, for keeping our air safe, for keeping our skies safe. We
appreciate that.
A month ago or so, we met in my office. We had a very
productive conversation. We talked about the important work
that you're doing in the TSA, your vision for the TSA, the
safety and security of my constituents and all Americans, and
the balance between moving people through airports
expeditiously and also keeping them safe. I look forward to
continuing that conversation today, sir.
Also in my office last month we spoke very specifically
about the passenger security fee for which all travelers are
charged each time they fly. That fee, as we know, is $5.60 for
a one-way flight originating in the United States. Nominally
speaking, those funds should go to airport security. However,
as we discussed, Uncle Sam is taking a large part of those
funds to pay for Government services having nothing whatsoever
to do with aviation security.
This is a classic Government bait-and-switch where the
Government is telling air travelers to pay that fee to make
them safer, but it's going elsewhere. A third of those funds,
$1.2 billion last year, was used to fund Federal expenses
having nothing to do with aviation security.
That is why I, along with my colleague, Congressman
Ruppersberger, recently introduced legislation to ensure those
funds collected from that fee actually goes toward the stated
intent, instead of being diverted to unrelated Government
spending.
Administrator, have you had an opportunity to review this
legislation, sir?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir, I have. Thank you.
Mr. LaLota. Do you have any views or feedback on it, its
efficacy, its intents, its mechanics? Do you have any opinions
on it, sir?
Mr. Pekoske. Sir, I think it's a great idea. I mean, it's
something that really began to be diverted in 2013. Fiscal 2024
was the first year it was in effect. Passengers are paying a 9/
11 security fee on their ticket. It ought to go to aviation
security, and it would help offset our pay challenge and also
allow us to buy more technology. Because I--I agree a hundred
percent that we ought to be able to put the best technology in
the hands of our people. We ask them to do a very difficult
job. We need to give them the tools to do that.
Mr. LaLota. Especially when we're telling aviation
travelers----
Mr. Pekoske. Right.
Mr. LaLota [continuing]. Pay more for this service, I think
it's only fair the Government is candid with them and actually
use the funds they're collecting for that purpose. So I look
forward to staying in touch with you on that legislation, sir.
Switching gears. In your testimony, sir, you stated that
only 38 percent of computed tomography procurements have been
made for a full operational capable need for 2,200 or so CT
machines. You've also estimated that based on projected
funding, as it stands, it will take you until the year 2042 to
fully deploy this CT technology. Is that correct?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir, that's correct.
Mr. LaLota. Can you give me little insights? I mean, this
is concerning, I think, to the committee. I think that we can
do--do better. Do you have any insights on that, sir?
Mr. Pekoske. One I would share with you that I think is
particularly relevant, sir, is that we're in the position where
we know exactly what we want to buy. We've bought a good
portion of them already, and we have contracts in place to be
able to do that. So we could spend easily triple what we're
currently appropriated and not put new technology in
warehouses. We could install in airports.
This technology, in particular the CT technology, closes a
known security gap for us that we need to close as quickly as
we can.
Mr. LaLota. Thanks. I look forward to working with you on
both these issues, sir. Appreciate your time today.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Mr. Pekoske. Thank you.
Mr. Gimenez. The gentleman yields back.
I'm going to go through a second round of questioning.
Mr. Pekoske, what is the cost, additional cost, of giving
the pay raises to everybody in TSA?
Mr. Pekoske. The additional cost would be the cost for
everybody beyond the TSOs, and I'd have to look at the exact
budget numbers. The President's request was for an additional
$1.1 billion, which is actually less than the $1.6 billion if
we ended the fee diversion. So that's in addition to what----
Mr. Gimenez. That's not the question. So I'm asking you a
very direct question.
Mr. Pekoske. Uh-huh.
Mr. Gimenez. What is the cost of giving everybody the pay
raise?
Mr. Pekoske. Sure. If you provide the pay raise to
everyone, the annualized cost is about $1.5 billion.
Mr. Gimenez. So--but the President only--we've only cut
$128 million from the President's request.
How are we going to fund that?
Mr. Pekoske. Well, sir, I think where you start is the fee
diversion.
Mr. Gimenez. No, no, hold on a second. The President
requested only $128 million more than what we appropriated. How
are you going to fund over a billion dollars in pay increases
with only $128 million?
Mr. Pekoske. Sir, the President submitted a legislative
proposal to end that fee diversion, and that's the pay-for.
Mr. Gimenez. Fair enough. That's a good answer. OK.
The fee diversion, how much is that?
Mr. Pekoske. $1.56 billion.
Mr. Gimenez. One-point-five-six. The whole fee diversion is
going to pay for pay increases?
Mr. Pekoske. It will pay for pay increases and technology
investment, sir.
Mr. Gimenez. Is that all you need?
Mr. Pekoske. Oh, I could--we could spend a lot more money
than what's there. I mean, I think pretty much every agency
would say that, is that we're top-line constrained, which means
that we have far more very high-priority needs than we have
funds to be able to support it.
Part of the issue here, sir, if I could, is, you know,
these investments are long-term investments.
Mr. Gimenez. I understand.
Mr. Pekoske. Investments in people are long-term
investments. Investments in technology are long-term
investments. So you can't wish--let's say in a year we find a
significant security concern, a threat. We shouldn't be in a
position of wishing we had the technology that we know we need
in place.
Mr. Gimenez. It's about $11 round trip for an individual.
Mr. Pekoske. Right.
Mr. Gimenez. What is the actual cost per passenger of
providing the services that TSA needs to provide in order to
keep Americans and the traveling public safe?
Mr. Pekoske. I don't have that number off the top of my
head, sir, but we can get that for you for the record.
Mr. Gimenez. Would you have a guesstimate?
Mr. Pekoske. Well, you know, our budget is--let's say,
round up the budget $11 billion, and let's say on an annual
basis you have a billion passengers, right.
Mr. Gimenez. Well, the more passengers you have, the more
income you have too. I'm asking----
Mr. Pekoske. Right.
Mr. Gimenez [continuing]. So it's a per-passenger cost.
Mr. Pekoske. Right.
Mr. Gimenez. So as your passenger loads goes up, so does
your revenue.
Mr. Pekoske. It does.
Mr. Gimenez. Right?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir.
Mr. Gimenez. OK. So what is your per-passenger cost to
provide the services, to provide all your--your employees a--a
decent rate of pay and then all the technology that you need in
order to keep the traveling public safe, in your estimation?
Mr. Pekoske. I would have to get--you know, I'd have to
figure that number out and get that number to you for the
record, and we'll show you how we calculated it.
Mr. Gimenez. OK. Thank you.
I yield back.
Anybody--oh, now I have--I recognize the gentlewoman from
Florida, Ms. Lee.
Ms. Lee. Good afternoon. Thank you for being here, sir.
Administrator Pekoske, I'd like to bring up TSA's work
specifically on cybersecurity. On March 7 of this year, TSA
issued a cyber-related joint emergency security program
amendment, EA 2301, for certain TSA-regulated airports and
aircraft operators to implement cybersecurity measures.
Under this EA, airports and aircraft operators, including
Tampa International Airport, which serves many of my
constituents, are required to transmit sensitive information to
TSA over email.
I am concerned that this is potentially putting that
information, putting that very sensitive information at risk in
the event of a cyber attack against TSA. All of this
information from airports around the country could be accessed
by a bad actor.
If--so my question will begin here. If it is standard
practice of TSA, which I understand it is, to conduct extensive
on-site inspections of critical cyber-related systems, why is
TSA now implementing this process that would require
transmission via email of this type of sensitive information
for storage about critical airport and airline systems at your
site?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, ma'am. Great question. We benefited
significantly from the input from our airport and airline
partners on this, and we have changed that policy where they
can keep that information locally. We'll inspect it locally.
Ms. Lee. That is great to hear. In fact, you just led into
one of my other questions. I would love to hear more about
that. What kind of engagement did you have with the
stakeholders and the airports in making changes or revisions to
that policy?
Mr. Pekoske. I would say--and, you know, the airports and
the carriers would be a good--a good group of people to ask as
well. I think we have a really very productive and positive
relationship with the owners and operators of critical
infrastructure. Airports and airlines are very much included in
that category, and we have regular dialog back and forth all
the time.
We understand the concern. We looked at it carefully. We
think we could provide some mitigations for it, but I didn't
want that issue to be the issue that prevented us from making
progress on improving cyber protections and improving cyber
resiliency. So fair point. Let's just go the site and look at
the data that they have there.
It makes sense, from my perspective. Really I--I value the
fact that airports and airlines feel that they can--they can
come back and say to us, no, hey, we disagree with that.
Importantly, we will listen to what they say, consider
carefully what they say. Generally, we provide an answer that I
think at the end of the day both of us, walking away, would say
that makes sense and let's just move forward.
Ms. Lee. So just to be sure that I'm clear. So then at this
point that is no longer the requirement, that they take that
information and email it to TSA for storage there?
Mr. Pekoske. That's correct.
Ms. Lee. All right. Very good.
Tell me generally, what policies and practices does TSA
have in place for itself to protect in the event of a cyber
attack or incident?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, ma'am. You know, one of the President's
Executive Orders is to make sure that the Federal Government
leads in this regard, because many of us are placing
requirements on private-sector entities and other levels of
Government entities. So we wanted to make sure that we were
setting the right example in that regard.
So we are moving aggressively to put a zero trust framework
in place around all of our cyber systems. We've increased our
cybersecurity training. We've brought more cybersecurity
experts on board.
I think that, at least in my experience, working with
pipelines and rail systems, airports and airlines, we have all
collectively learned a lot in this process. So I--you know, I
think the transportation sector is so much better off now 2
years later than we were when we first started putting these
requirements in place.
I'll give you one classic example. Back in May 2021, we
didn't know how many cyber incidents were occurring in the
pipeline sector or in the rail sector or in the aviation
sector. Now we have a reporting requirement. So we know. So if
somebody gets attacked, they can call back to CISA, which is an
important point, because, you know, that's the central
repository for that reporting, which has worked very well, and
understand that, hey, I might not be alone here. You know,
there are others that are experiencing the same things and help
them contextualize what's going on.
Ms. Lee. If you would, elaborate on that last point. I'd
love to hear more about the way in which you're working with
CISA and some of the successes and utility that you've gotten
out of the relationship with CISA.
Mr. Pekoske. Yes. CISA is one of our key--and we have two
key partners overall. One is with CISA. The other is with the
Department of Transportation, because DOT has the safety side
of the transportation sector. Oftentimes, something that you
might do for cybersecurity from a security perspective might
have a safety impact that you're not mindful of or vice-versa.
So we work very closely with DOT, the modes; FAA for
aviation--the pipeline has this material safety agency for
pipelines--and also with the FBI from a threat perspective. So
it's a very, very good relationship.
One of the things that we want to be able to provide to our
industry partners is a more unified perspective on the part of
the Government agencies that are involved.
Mr. Gimenez. The gentlelady's time has expired.
I recognize the gentleman from Louisiana.
Mr. Higgins. Administrator Pekoske, referencing what we
discussed a moment ago, the aviation passenger security fee.
Let's visit that again.
It seems to me that that would be a game-changer for TSA to
have that money returned, correct?
Mr. Pekoske. It would. Yes, sir.
Mr. Higgins. There's a lot that we could get done within
the parameters of a conservative budget projection if you had
that money returned to TSA?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir.
Mr. Higgins. I concur. It occurred to me, based upon your
projections for increased traffic per day, moving from 2.2
million a day--which is, again, hard to believe that you guys
handle that amount of traffic, but it's true. You're looking at
over 3 million a day in the peak of the summer travels, you're
saying.
So if you--if TSA received a aviation passenger security
fee, which currently for a round-trip ticket is $11.20--and
granted, everyone is not traveling round trip that would come
through--but we could project a large increase in your daily
and monthly income to fund TSA operations if you receive that
fee. Because as traffic goes up--a TSA security checkpoint has
relatively static expense whether it's busy or not, correct?
Mr. Pekoske. Right.
Mr. Higgins. So if you increase the number of passengers,
you have the same expense for operating the TSA checkpoint,
give or take maintenance expenses, et cetera. But with the
static expense for operating a TSA checkpoint, if you're able
to receive the aviation passenger security fee back into your
funding, especially considering increased traffic when you
won't have increased expense to operate, but you'll have
increased funding because of the increased traffic. Am I seeing
this correctly?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir, you're seeing it correct. The only
thing I'd add is that your maintenance cost will go up with
more traffic sometimes.
Mr. Higgins. A little bit.
Mr. Pekoske. But not--you know, your core concept, I 100
percent agree with.
Mr. Higgins. All right. Well, again, sir, thank you for
appearing before the committee today.
Mr. Chairman, I yield.
Mr. Gimenez. Thank you.
I'm going to just--one more--one more round for me, OK?
All right. How many passengers a year do you process?
Domestic passengers?
Mr. Pekoske. I would have to get back to you with the
domestic number. I know the overall number is close to a
billion per year. We're at 550 million already this year. So we
will easily exceed a billion by the end of this calendar year.
Mr. Gimenez. OK. A billion--OK. Let's say it's a billion.
So a billion at 560-? A billion at 560-, because a billion
passengers, that's wherever. It's 560-. That's just not----
Mr. Pekoske. Five-hundred-sixty--. Right.
Mr. Gimenez. So you're getting, you know, $5,600,000,000
from your passenger fee.
What does it take to fund your agency?
Mr. Pekoske. About $11 billion, sir.
Mr. Gimenez. Eleven billion. So it's half of what it
actually takes to fund your agency.
Mr. Pekoske. Uh-huh. Right.
Mr. Gimenez. OK. One more thing. Of the $1.6 billion that's
actually being diverted, you said that you could get--you could
pay for the pay raises and also technology. How much is it for
pay raises?
Mr. Pekoske. The additional funds we need for the pay raise
is 1.1, because we already have money from fiscal year 2023
appropriated. So the increase is 1.1.
Mr. Gimenez. Well, then I got--then have another question,
OK? In my figures, it says it's $856 million to pay for the pay
increases for the rank-and-file. You're saying it's more money
to pay for the non-rank-and-file? It's more expensive to pay
for those folks than it is for just the bulk of the rank-and-
file?
Mr. Pekoske. No, sir. What I'm saying is that the--we were
appropriated about 300-some-odd million--$380 million last year
for pay. That is in our base. So that carries forward into
2024. When you go into 2024, you just ask for the increase that
you need to be able to sustain full-year funding for that pay.
That increase is another $1.1 billion. So that gets you to the
$1.4 that I talked about.
Mr. Gimenez. Well, you had it for a quarter.
Mr. Pekoske. Right.
Mr. Gimenez. OK. So you need $856- to fill out the other
three quarters. Or a quarter--no. It'd be about $300 million.
Three hundred million per quarter. Is that what you got?
Mr. Pekoske. Three-hundred-eighty--. Yes, sir.
Mr. Gimenez. OK. So $380-. So it costs just as much to pay
for the upper echelon folks in TSA as it does for the rank-and-
file?
Mr. Pekoske. No, sir. That $380- includes everybody.
Mr. Gimenez. No. You said it would--it would take $1.1
billion to pay for the pay increases for the folks that aren't
getting the pay increases? Is that what you said?
Mr. Pekoske. No, sir. The 1.1 is to annualize--to take the
one-quarter funding and turn it into four quarters' worth of
funding in fiscal 2024.
Mr. Gimenez. For everybody?
Mr. Pekoske. For everybody. Yes, sir.
Mr. Gimenez. For the--we gave you $856 million additional
for the rank-and-file this year. All right? So if you say that
the base for that is already in, and then you say, OK, it's
$1.1 billion for the rank-and-file, but you're telling me it's
$1.1 billion for the non-rank-and-file. What percentage of your
work force is the non-rank-and-file versus the rank-and-file?
Mr. Pekoske. Sir, the Transportation Security Officers--the
uniformed work force is about 80 percent of our work force.
Mr. Gimenez. The TSA--the people that are getting a raise?
Mr. Pekoske. Yes, sir.
Mr. Gimenez. So how could 20 percent of the work force end
up paying just as--costing just as much as the 80 percent of
the work force?
Mr. Pekoske. Right. Because that money that provides for
the TSOs needs to be carried over for four quarters' worth of
funding into 2024. So you're paying for that as well.
Mr. Gimenez. No. You're not getting the question.
You're telling me that for 80 percent of the work force you
need $1.1 billion. But you're also telling me that for 20
percent of the work force you need $1.1 billion. That doesn't
equate to me.
Mr. Pekoske. Oh, I'm sorry. No. For the entire work force,
to annualize what we received in 2023, we need an additional
$1.1 billion.
Mr. Gimenez. But you're already getting $856 million more
in this next fiscal year to pay for your 80 percent.
Mr. Pekoske. Uh-huh.
Mr. Gimenez. So how much is--how much more do you need for
the 20 percent that you say are getting a pay cut? You're
telling us it's $1.1 billion. To me, it doesn't--doesn't
equate, OK? So----
Mr. Pekoske. We'll figure out the----
Mr. Gimenez. Well, no, I got to figure it out because, you
know what, it doesn't equate to me. So if you got 20 percent of
your work force is costing as much as 80 percent of your work
force, there's something wrong.
Mr. Pekoske. Yes. OK. So we have $380-. We're asking for
1.1----
Mr. Gimenez. You have $380- when we've given you $856
million more to fund for the 80 percent. That's in this budget,
OK? That's in our appropriation.
We've asked the question a number of times. If you got the
passenger fee back, $1.6 billion, how much of it--you know, how
much of it do you need to fund the other 20 percent? You give
me a number like $800 million or a billion dollars, OK? It
doesn't make sense to me how 20 percent of the work force can
cost as much as $80 percent of the work force. If that's the
case, that means your 20 percent is making a heck of a lot of
money.
So where is it? Where are we?
Mr. Pekoske. So the non-TSO work force does make more money
than the TSO work force, as they're higher-banded. So if you
looked at the rest of the Federal Government, they would be--
you know, let's say general schedule, 12, 13, 14 steps, where
the TSO work force would be 5, 7, 9, maybe 11. OK.
Mr. Gimenez. OK. So you know what? Now I'm going to need
what--who's making what.
Mr. Pekoske. Sure.
Mr. Gimenez. OK? Because that doesn't make sense to me, OK?
The 20 percent, no matter how much--they're making a heck of a
lot more than everybody else. So I've got to see what that is,
OK?
Mr. Pekoske. Sure.
Mr. Gimenez. So I need to see--those folks that you're
saying that are going to get a pay cut, what are they making?
How much total are they making? What percentage of your work
force it is? Then the ones that are getting the pay raise,
which is 80 percent--right--how much are they making? All
right?
So--you know, look, I want to be fair with everybody, but
again, you know, I want to make sure that I got this whole
thing straight.
Mr. Pekoske. I understand. If I could just add one comment
to that, sir, is that we're asking for the people to be paid at
the same level that their other Federal counterparts are being
paid. We're not asking for money that other people working in
the Federal Government don't receive for the same grade level.
Mr. Gimenez. I understand that. But, you know, I ask
questions a certain way because I expect them to come out a
certain way. I don't expect your answer to come out a certain
way, but I expect--OK. When I see something like that, that 20
percent, according to you--maybe you're wrong, I don't know--20
percent is costing as much as 80 percent, there's something
wrong there, OK? So, you know, I got to check that out.
Mr. Pekoske. OK.
Mr. Gimenez. My time is over, but I'm the Chair, so I can
do whatever.
Mr. Higgins, do you have any follow-up on this?
Mr. Higgins. Just an observation, perhaps, Mr. Chairman,
from your line of questioning here.
In the interest of just clarity, I believe that what TSA
was dealing with is that it's not that the 20 percent of the
work force was overpaid; it's that the 80 percent of the work
force was underpaid. We're adjusting that now. It does bring
parity to those numbers.
But, again, to use your numbers, in the interest of
simplicity, 80 percent of the work force was falling in one-
third--in the lower one-third of comparable pay bands across
the Federal Government in similar jobs. The 20 percent of the
work force was falling in the upper one-third of the pay bands
for similar jobs across the Federal Government. So that puts
them in the upper one-third. It doesn't put them at the top.
So it's not that they were--it's not that 20 percent of the
work force was overpaid or is overpaid, it's that the 80
percent was underpaid. We made those adjustments.
Is that a fair summary, sir?
Mr. Pekoske. That's fair. Yes, sir.
Mr. Higgins. A productive meeting and hearing, Mr.
Chairman. I yield.
Mr. Gimenez. Thank you very much. It has been productive. I
do want to see those figures.
Look, from my perspective, maybe the traveling public needs
to have excellent services, which you provide, and then, you
know, what they pay for--they should be getting the services
that they're paying for. So I agree with my colleague.
I thank the witness for your valuable testimony and the
Members for their questions. The Members in the subcommittee
may have some additional questions for the witnesses and we
would ask the witness to respond to these in writing.
Pursuant to committee rule VII(D), the hearing record will
be open for 10 days.
Without objection, the subcommittee stands adjourned. Thank
you.
[Whereupon, at 3:34 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
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